In the field of oil and gas exploration and production, it is common to provide an isolation liner incorporating a drill pipe.
Few liners incorporate a plurality of bidirectional swell packers.
A need exists for a plurality of swellable packers to be interconnected on a liner for drill pipe, wherein each swellable packer includes a mantle of swellable elastomeric material formed around a tubular body.
The swellable elastomer can be selected to expand by increasing in volume on exposure to at least one triggering fluid, which can be a hydrocarbon fluid or an aqueous fluid. The design dimensions and swelling characteristics are selected such that the swellable mantle expands to create a fluid seal in the annulus, thereby isolating one wellbore section from another. Swellable packers have several advantages over conventional packers, including passive actuation, simplicity of construction, and robustness in long term isolation applications.
A need exists for drill pipe with a plurality of swell packers that can run to the bottom of a well without the swell packer jamming or stopping midway.
A need exists for drill pipe with a liner connected by swell packers that is able to run to the bottom of a well or to a target depth without the swell packer catching on the well midway down the borehole.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.